“Shall I kidnap a commoner for you then?”Jacesays.
“Theyare more likely to be illiterate and less likely to be knowled–” I stop, my eyes narrowing as a movement along the great trunk of our tree catches my attention.Hovering in the air,my wings beating rapidly,I search through the darkness for what I just saw.Or think I saw.Maybeit was only a trick of the–
“What the fuck?”Jace says as he hovers beside me, our translucent wings glowing softly in the night.
“Go get Echo,” I say, drawing one of the many knives I keep on me.She’s the head of my Royal Guard and will be able to organise an attack forcewithin seconds.A cold calm rushes through me as I prepare to kill theenemydaring to invade our home.But Jace grabs my wrist before I can dive on top ofitand slit its throat.
“I don’t thinkit’s aJokeni,” he says.
Itdoesn’thave the thickbodyofabeetle-like Okahinor the long, slithering tail of an Alzan.What else canitbe butone ofthe bipedal ants we’ve been fightingin the east?
In ordertodefeatthe Vyliansin one big push,Ipulled in troopsfrom all around Raza.Doing so leftus momentarily weaker on our other fronts.A Jokeni assassin could have easily slippedthrough the holes in our defences.They move erratically,darting from one side to the other, just like the silhouette climbing our tree is.
But before I can pull free of my bodyguard’s grip, I see it.A flash of pale-pink hair catching in the moonlight.Jokeni do not have hair, their entire bodies, just like the Okahi, are made of an exoskeleton.
“What the fuck?”I say,truly surprised for the first time in a long time.“Is that...a brownie?”
“Pissed off her feet, by the looks of it,” Jace says.“Though the onefollowingher looks more sober.”
It takes me a second to pull my eyes away from the bob of light-pink hair.It takes me even longer to spot the other silhouette I missed because my eyes keep darting back to the first brownie.
But there she is.Another one, moving in a straight line –or as straight as a line can be when climbing our great treegiven the buttress roots snake along the forest floor.Natural spikes sprout from themtooto stop the larger animals from trying to climb the trunk, but they’re too small to deterussmaller races.
I blink.Look back at thedrunk brownieas she reaches the first branch.My chest tightens more the longer I watch her.I don’t like surprises.
“What the fuck?”I say againbecause what else is there to say.“Are they… invading us?”Despite our two kingdoms being at peace, brownies still have to request entry into our cities,but the idea of them winning a war is preposterous.They have zero defences, zero weapons, and zerowitches.Magic takes time to learn,andthey do not have any schools.
Jace shrugs.“I doubt it.I bet they’re trying to invite us to another orgy.”
I frown as I fly down a bit further, scanning the roots of the tree until I spot the post box we built for them centuries ago.Any invites are to gointhere.Inside the boxarerunes that will crumble any paper into dustso it can never be full.They think we get the invite,andwe don’thave to clean their bodies off ourbranches or the forest floor after they fall to their deaths.And they always fall to their deaths – because someone pushes them.
“The box is still standing,” I say,but my mindhas already leftthat thoughtbehind as the gearsturnon another.Her arms careen wide.She stumbles towards the edge,and I no longer care why she’s here.I’m going to have her as my wife.
“She’s perfect,” Isayas Idive down,shiftingthe stroke and timing of my wings.Her friend grabs her by her wrist and hauls her back before I can snatch her out of the air by her waist.With a yelp, Sober Brownie spins in place and starts to run along the branch of the tree, dragging her friend behind her.
“Run!”she yells, and my eyes narrow as I land on the branch of the tree.
Jace lands beside me in half a second.“Did she just yell?”he asks.“I thought brownies aren’t supposed to yell?”
“They’re not supposedto climb our trees either,” I say, hesitating for a second.Perhaps she isn’t as perfect as Ithink she is?
But then the head of pink hair turns to look at me over her shoulder.Our eyes lock.My breath catches, and I know perfection when I see it.
Lifting her hand, she waves at me.“Fabia!Look, it’s a baby bird!He doesn’tevenhave his feathers yet.”
“You fucking idiot!Just run!”
“Did Lilac-Hair just curse?”Jace asks, but I don’t care.She isn’t the one I want.
“Separate them,” I order as I spread my wings again.“We need to grab them before someone sees.I’ll take the pink one.”
I take off before he can question me, but he keeps up alongside.Jace’s reflexes are second only to the head of the Royal Guard.There’s a reason he’s my head of security.
We fly a lot faster than they can run.My queen –a name that slips through my mind so easily– keeps trying to look over her shoulder.She keeps tripping over the bark of the branch, and if it wasn’t for her friend, she would’ve fallen at leastsixtimesalready.
“Wait!I think it needs help!”she says as she starts trying to tug herself free.
“Weneed help!We never should’ve come here!”
